Title: Robert S. Cowie Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1903-1948

Creator:

• Cowie, Robert S. (Robert Somerville), 1873-1951

Call Number: La Crosse Mss V

Quantity: 0.8 cubic feet (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the Special Collections & Area Research Center, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-La Crosse Murphy Library / La Crosse Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Personal and professional papers of Robert S. Cowie, a lawyer and judge in Trempealeau County and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Includes correspondence to Cowie concerning family matters, Republican party politics, and support for Robert M. La Follette in Wisconsin (1903-1908); correspondence, speeches, financial records, and newspaper clippings documenting Cowie's successful campaign for circuit court judge (1922-1924); and correspondence concerning cases heard by Cowie, his possible nomination to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and local and state political issues (1934-1941). Also includes three 1935 letters from J. Edgar Hoover to Cowie concern the shooting of John Dillinger.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-lx000v

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Robert S. Cowie was born on April 18, 1873, in Glencoe, Buffalo County, Wisconsin. His parents George and Margaret Cowie, were natives of Glasgow, Scotland, but came in l848 to Pottsville, Pennsylvania. After remaining there for two years, George Cowie moved his family to the California gold fields by way of Panama. Finally, in 1855, the Cowies came to Wisconsin. George Cowie was a successful farmer, served for twenty-five years as postmaster of Glencoe, became justice of the peace, and in 1872 became the first Democratic member of the state Assembly from that district.

Robert S. Cowie was eleven of twelve children of George and Margaret Cowie. After attending the public schools of Glencoe, he obtained a teacher's certificate and taught in the second grade. In 1892 he borrowed five hundred dollars to begin studying law, and received his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1894. For the following three years, Cowie worked in the law office of John C. Gaveney in Arcadia, Wisconsin. In January 1898, he was elected district attorney of Trempealeau County and moved to Whitehall, where he practiced law. Elected district attorney a second time, he served from 1898 until 1902. In these years, Cowie took an active part in the Republican Party in Western Wisconsin. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 appointed him a deputy auditor for the Navy Department, and Cowie held that position in Washington, D.C., for two years. He then resigned and returned to Whitehall, where in 1905 he was elected County Judge of Trempealeau County and served until July 1909.

Cowie next accepted an appointment to the State Board of Control for two years. At the end of the term, he returned to Whitehall to practice law. There he ran for Circuit Judge in 1917 against Judge Higbee but was defeated. The following year, Cowie moved to La Crosse to form a partnership with Quincy H. Hale. The firm continued until January 1, 1925 when Cowie was elected Circuit Judge with jurisdiction over La Crosse, Monroe, Vernon, and Trempealeau counties.

On December 25, 1897, Cowie married Kathryn Melby of Whitehall. She was the daughter of John C. Melby, pioneer banker and founder of the Melby Bank in Whitehall. On December 31, 1900, the Cowies' daughter, Janice, was born. Eventually she became an instructor in La Crosse and married Joseph Becker of Springfield. Their son Joseph was an attorney in La Crosse and donated the Robert S. Cowie Collection.

Cowie continued on the circuit bench at La Crosse and was serving his fifth term at the time of his death on October 3, l95l. He was not able to preside in court after 1949, however, because of ill health. He was a member of the Congregational Church, the Masonic and Elks lodges, the La Crosse County Bar Association, and the Wisconsin State Bar Association.

As a lawyer, Cowie was noted for his thorough and keen presentment of cases, and as a judge he demonstrated a fair and dignified manner which commanded respect. While district attorney of Trempealeau County, he successfully prosecuted four murder charges resulting in life imprisonment. As an attorney, he defended five first degree murder charges which resulted in acquittal. Because of his successes Cowie was considered one of the outstanding trial lawyers in the Midwest. During his terms as Circuit Judge, there was great demand throughout the state for his services in the trial of important cases. He was judge of several major criminal cases in Milwaukee, including the Luick Dairy murder case, which was given national publicity. On October 9, 1951, the editor of the La Crosse Tribune described his career as “one of the most colorful, brilliant, artistic exemplifications of the skill and art of the lawyer in our generation,” and added that few of his judicial decisions ever were carried to higher courts.

In addition to county histories and newspaper obituaries, the most accurate information about Cowie's life is contained in the memorial by Quincy H. Hale published in Wisconsin Reports 26l, Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

This collection of Cowie manuscripts is fragmentary and contains both personal papers and business records. It consists of incoming letters, copies of letters sent, speeches, financial records, campaign documents, newspaper clippings, nomination papers, and poems. Most of this material has been arranged in chronological order, although speeches, campaign information, personal financial records, and newspaper clippings have been kept separate from the correspondence.

The early correspondence from 1903 to 1906 consists of approximately two hundred and fifty letters to Cowie. Many are written by his wife Kathryn and his brother Allan and are concerned with such personal matters as the health of the family, the death of his father, and the administration of the estate. There are numerous letters of sympathy in February 1904, upon the death of Cowie's father. Another large segment consists of congratulations from Cowie's friends upon his appointment as deputy auditor for the Navy Department. A letter from Robert La Follette on January 13, 1904, officially recognizes Cowie's resignation as district attorney of Trempealeau County. There are a few copies of letters written by Cowie in Washington, D.C., in which he expresses a desire to return to Wisconsin. The most significant correspondence to Cowie in Washington concerns the local political scene in Wisconsin. On May 16, 1904, for example, Joseph V. Quarles writes to Cowie that the opposition to La Follette is gaining and has a safe majority. John C. Gaveney, Cowie's partner, and Glenn O. Linderman, attorney from Osseo, describe the struggle against the governor's machine in Wisconsin in 1904. Opposed to populism, both write about the Republican national convention.

In a letter of October 28, 1904 Theodore Roosevelt appointed Cowie Purchasing Agent of the Post Office Department. John J. Fruit, judge of the sixth judicial circuit in La Crosse, writes to Cowie on December 5, 1904 and describes the heavy duties of the office. There also are numerous congratulations to Cowie upon his election as County Judge in Trempealeau County in April, 1905.

After this early correspondence, there is a large gap until 1922. From April 21, 1922, to May 21, 1924, there are approximately one hundred and forty letters, most of which are related to Cowie's campaign for Circuit Judge. Personal friends, many of them local lawyers, offer their support during the 1924 campaign; two examples are letters from William B. Naylor, a lawyer in Tomah, and James L. Christie, superintendent of the Western Wisconsin Telephone Company. There are numerous pleas by Cowie to potential voters asking for their support. Following Cowie's success in April 1924, numerous congratulations from personal friends indicate the popularity of the lawyer. Cowie replies to many of them and acknowledges their support.

Miscellaneous papers relating to the campaign include financial statements of amounts received and spent by Cowie, nomination papers signed by qualified voters, lists of persons to whom nomination papers have been mailed, printed election notices, posters, cards, and circulars. In addition, there are about twenty-five campaign speeches used by Cowie, most of them are undated. Some are copies of editorials from newspapers and magazines, and others are written by Cowie himself. The primary value of these speeches is their autobiographical information. Topics such as the prevention of war, Biblical texts, elements essential to success, and the contributions of the Scots in America indicate the wide diversity of subject matter. Most of them are typical campaign speeches and ask the voters for support.

In addition to the campaign speeches, there are thirty-nine orations delivered on such occasions as Flag Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and other patriotic occasions. Usually undated, they center on the crime problem, the care of criminals, probation and parole, education, immigration, patriotism, and citizenship.

The next body of correspondence begins on April 19, 1934 and contains about a hundred and twenty-five letters. Some are about the possibility of Cowie succeeding the late Justice Walter C. Owen to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. There is a large group of endorsements from lawyers and businessmen on behalf of Cowie to Governor Schmedemann in April and May 1934. Of significance are three letters written on July 15 and 20, and August 19, 1935, by J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to Cowie. The latter has been misquoted in the newspapers as saying that the federal agents purposely shot John Dillinger in a spectacular manner. Cowie justifies his statement to Hoover on August 14.

There is much correspondence in the mid-1930s about the possibility of drafting bills to regulate gambling and lotteries more effectively. Oscar S. Paulson, senator from the thirty-second district, writes to Cowie on February 1, 1939, in an attempt to control “bank nights.” Another significant subject is a proposed retirement bill for judges; Daniel W. Sullivan, judge of the circuit court at Milwaukee, favors this bill in correspondence with Cowie on April 15, 1938; January 12, 1939; and February 6, 1939. Other correspondence deals with court cases handled by Cowie. The main body of letters ends in February 1941, but the last was written on September 9, 1948. The most important is a copy of an open letter by Cowie to the President on August 11, 1945, in opposition to compulsory military training.

Cowie's personal bills, receipts, and canceled checks extend from February 2, 1904, to August 19, 1926. They include magazine subscriptions, life insurance payments, receipts from clients, and bills for political advertisements in newspapers. Another body of material consists of newspaper clippings about Cowie's political activities, speeches, and cases.

Miscellaneous items include mimeographed and published material such as a directory of public officials for Trempealeau County in 1923, an official directory of Monroe County public officers for 1923, the county clerk's report for Trempealeau County in April 1923, copies of postal laws regarding lotteries, and the court calendar for the October 1929 term of the sixth judicial circuit.

The value of this collection principally is the information it contains about politics in Wisconsin, particularly Trempealeau County. It indicates the political views of many portions of the state. Particularly significant are indications of the public sentiment toward La Follette in various areas of Wisconsin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Joseph Becker, La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 29, 1956.

Processing Information

Processed by Arlan K. Gilbert, Library Science 161 (University of Wisconsin-Madison), 1957.

La Crosse Mss V Box   1 Folder   1-5	Correspondence, 1903-1924
Box   2 Folder   5-6	Correspondence, 1934-1948
Box   1 Folder   6-7	Campaign material, 1924
Box   2 Folder   1	Campaign speech materials, 1924
Box   2 Folder   2-3	Addresses and speeches, 1913-1948 and undated
Box   2 Folder   4	Nomination papers and campaign materials, 1930
Box   2 Folder   7	Receipts and bills, 1904-1926
Box   2 Folder   8	Newspaper clippings
Box   2 Folder   9-10	Miscellaneous